posts tagged: 15 FOs

I’ve really been on a stockinette kick of late. This time, put to good use in a hat for Jason that I knit last fall. Cast on, worked k2,p2 rib for a bit, switched to stockinette, decreased in quarters. Not much more to say! The yarn spoke for itself—any stitch pattern seemed unnecessary with the lovely mottle that the Skeinny Dipping Yarn (in worsted) had.

His only requirement for knit hats is that they can cover his ears. I guess because he wears a hat every day as it is, the only reason to switch to a handknit is to get that extra coverage. I don’t think this hat is especially warm, but hopefully it’ll get some use.

I’m a devout mitten-wearer, with several pairs knit by me or friends in constant rotation depending on the temperature and windiness of any given day. But I realized I needed a pair of gloves—basic, black gloves. Wardrobe staples are really where my head is these days. I could’ve just figured out my gauge and cobbled together a pattern myself, but a quick search revealed that Purl Soho had already done that work for me in the Gem Gloves.

I cast on with Skeinny Dipping Yarn while at my aunt and uncle’s for a weekend lazing by the pool last August. (I’d bought the yarn on my first visit to Gauge + Tension.) With the basic k1,p1 rib followed by stockinette, they were perfect for working on while socializing, and I steadily worked on them at the end of the summer. In fact, I finished the first one two weeks later back at my family’s place for Labor Day weekend! In a short time after I’d finished the second one.

Overall I followed the pattern closely, though when I picked up stitches for each finger I picked up lots more and decreased them away quickly in order to prevent any holes from forming. Each finger is custom built. No other alterations, and I’m thrilled with them. They’re so thin and light I’ve been tossing them in my purse even if I’m also bringing mittens so that I have a lighter option. They’re not toasty warm, of course, but they keep the chill off. Here they are on my Ravelry page.

Pretty much the moment I saw this hat from Purl Soho, I wanted to make it. I even knit a too-small version up in worsted-weight yarn. It was okay but something about the larger gauge and the colors I chose made it pretty meh. So when I was at Vogue Knitting LIVE in Chicago, I scouted the yarn a little with the hat in mind. Apple Yarns, from Washington, was selling Cedar House Yarns, which I’d never seen before. They were selling small skeins as well as full-size, and it seemed perfect to get a pairing that way.

I cast on and started on the flight home from Chicago on size 2s, which I had handy. Within a few rows I knew they were too big. Ultimately I ended up on 1s, which gave me a nice-looking gauge. I knit the adult woman size. Within a few rows I’d dropped a stitch—slippery yarn on metal needles, lots of stitches jammed together… I had to frog back several rows to fix it. This happened again a few rows later. And then again at least one more time before I finished the darn thing! Dropping a stitch in fisherman’s rib/brioche is an ordeal, let me tell you. I just could never figure out how to ladder it back up correctly.

But I persevered, and ended up with a squishy, super-warm hat!

I can wear it basically 4 ways, though I only shot it in 3 versions. I can wear it uncuffed with either side showing: the dominantly gray or the dominantly blue edge. Or I can cuff it up as more of a toque, again with either side of the cuff out. I managed to weave in the ends and clip them so tightly to the work that I don’t think they’re poking out anywhere (at least I can’t see them).

I look forward to the weather really getting cold, because this hat is so very warm! So far the fall had been incredibly mild (50s), so I don’t really need this one yet. But soon, I’ll be ready!

I knit my first pair of Macro Mitts by Lauren Osborne years ago, and they are my most-worn mittens every winter. Every time my friend Emily saw them, she’d make it very clear how much she wanted her own pair. It’s not as if she couldn’t just knit them herself, but I’d always said that I would make her a pair, though I never got around to it.

But just a week ago, Emily announced she’s moving across the country, from Queens to San Diego. And even though she will have limited times to wear them in San Diego, I knew I had to knit her a pair as a going away present. Of course, we were having dinner on Saturday night and I had this brilliant idea Friday afternoon. But we had nothing but a marathon of Justified Season 4 on the docket so I managed it!

I even knit all 4 Latvian Braids. (I omitted the top ones on my own pair, because I detest knitting those braids!) If that doesn’t show how important this gift was, I don’t know what does.

Another cousin is expecting a baby! This time, I decided I’d do something other than the basic Child’s Placket-Neck Pullover that I like so much. But when you research baby sweaters on Ravelry they’re just all so much the same. I favorited several but ultimately I chose Ysolda’s Wee Envelope precisely because it’s completely different from all the others.

For this you start with one sleeve, work across the front yoke, then knit the back yoke, then the other sleeve. At the end you pick up stitches and work the body. It just seemed so much more interesting to knit. I had a decent amount of Malabrigo Arroyo from my Spinster Slouch leftover, and I was able to get close to gauge and a nice fabric on size 6 needles. (I swear I’m not a tight knitter, despite the drastic difference in needle size from the pattern!) I debated what size to knit, since the little one is due in November—and he’ll live in Georgia—so I had to match up my best guess on the kid’s size (his parents are both very tall) with what the weather will be like plus how warm this sweater would actually be . . . so I knit the 3-6 month size. It looks impossibly tiny to me, but I don’t know babies, so I figure he’ll fit into it at some time.

As I’d hoped, this was an interesting knit. It’s not mindless like the Placket Neck would be, and there was some weirdness (you need to pick up across the front yoke, but there’s an I-cord edge there! How do you pick up for that?! The blog post to explain doesn’t address this at all, so I just fudged it, which I have to remind myself is totally the point of being the boss of your knitting), but there were nice long stretches where you didn’t have to think at all. I suspected I wasn’t really going to want/need 2 buttons on each side (I basically hate dealing with buttons) but since I didn’t know the pattern—and there’s no actual schematic included—I just followed the directions rather than try to make modifications on the fly. In the end, though, the whole thing seemed so small that I just seamed the buttonholes shut. I am not sure that the parents would’ve even noticed the holes, but just in case, I made them go away. If I made the sweater in a bigger size I might include them, but future wee Wee Envelopes are more than likely going to be buttonless from me.

This definitely won’t be the last Wee Envelope I make: cute, fast (knit it in just 2 days), and the pattern includes a huge range of sizes. Yay for a new go-to pattern!